Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1887-02-02
voice, so near as to startle Hale, broke once
more from the surrounding obscurity.
"Good niphtin

"Good night"
1t was the signal that they were free. The
drivers whip cracked like pistol shot, the
horses sprang furiously forward, the huge We
hicle lurched ahead and then bounded vio-
lently after them. When Hale could make
his voice heard in the confusion-a confusion
which seemed greater from the colorless in
he said hurriedly, "Then that fellow was
there all the time?"
II reckon" returned his companion, "he
stopped five minutes to cover the driver with
his double barrel, until the two other men
got off with the treasure"
1.-THE two others!" gasped Hale. "Then
there were only three men, and we six"
The man shrugged his shoulders The pas
senger who had given up the greenbacks
drawled, with slow, irritating tolerance,
u reckon you're stranger hereF
II am-to this sort Of thing, certainly,
though live dozen miles from here, at Ea-
gles Court" returned Hale scornfully.
"Then you're the chap that's doin' that
fancy ranchin' over at Eagles" continued
the man lazily.
aWhatever Pm doing at Eagles Court I'm
not ashamed of it," said Hale tartly; "and
that's more than can say Of what I've done
or haven't done-to-night. I've been one Of
six men overawed and robbed by three"
aAs to the overawin', ez you call it-meb-
be you know more about it than US AS to
the robbin'-ez far as kin remember, you
haven't onloaded much. Eff you're talkin'
about what oughter've been done, I'll tell you
what could have happened. P'r'aps ye no
ticed that when he pulled up made kind
of grab for my Weeping behind me?"
II did; and you weren't quick enough
said Hale shortly.
~ wasn't quick enough, and that saved
YOU. For eff I got that pistol out and in sight
O. that man that held the gun -"
"Well," said Hale impatiently, "hed have
hesitated."
"He'd hev blown you with both barrels
outer the window, and that before I'd got a
half cock on my revolver"
"But that would have been only one man
gone, and there would have been five of you
left" said Hale haughtily.
"That might have been efyoud contracted
to take the hull charge Of two handfuls OF
buckshot and slugs; but ez one-eighth of that
amount would have done your business, and
yet left enough to have gone round, promis-
kiss, and satisfied the other passengers, it
wouldn't do to kalkilate upon"
but the express messenger and the driver
were armed" continued Hale.
"They were armed, but not fixed; that
makes all the difference"
II don't understand"
II reckon you know what a duel isa'
eyes"
"Well, the chances agin us was about the
same as you'd have eff you was put up agln
another chap who was allowed to draw
bead on you, and the signal to fire was your
drawin' your weapon. You may be a
stranger to this sort O. thing, and p'r'aps you
never fought duel, but even then you
wouldn't go foolin' your life away on any
such chances"
Something in the mans manner, as in
certain sly amusement the other passengers
appeared to extract from the conversation,
impressed Hale, already beginning to be con-
scious Of the iudicrous insuf1ciency Of his own
grievance beside that Of his interlocutor.
"Then you mean to say this thing is in
evitable," said he bitterly, but less aggres-
sively.
aEz long ez they hunt you; when you hunt
them you've got the adv antage, allus pro-
vided you know how to get at them ez we'll
as they know how to get ct you. This yer
coach is bound to so regular, and on certain
days. They amt BY the time the sheriff
gets out his posse they've skedaddled, and the
leader, like as not, is takin' his quiet cocktail
at the Bank Exchange. or mebbe losin' his
earnings to the sheriff over draw poker in
Sacramento You see you can't prove any
thing agin them unless you take them 'on the
fy.' 1t may be part of joaquin Murietta's
band, though wouldn't swear to it."
"1he leader might have been Gentleman
George, from up country" interposed a pas
senger "He seemed to throw in few fancy
touches, particlesly in that Good night.
Sorter chucked little sentiment in it.
Didn't seem to be the same thing ez Git, yer
id suckers on the other line"
"Whoever he was he knew the road and
the men who travelled on it. Like ez not he
went over the line beside the driver on the
box on the down trip, and took stock Of
everything. He even knew I had those
greenbacks, though they were handed to me
in the bank at Sacramento. He must have
been hangin' round there"
For some moments Hale remained silent.
He was civic-bred man, with an intense love
Of law and order; the kind of man who is the
first to take that law and order into his own
hands when lie does not find it existing to
please him. He had Bostonian's respect for
respectability, tradition and propriety, but
was willing to face irregularity and impro-
priety to create order elsewhere. He was
fond of nature with these limitations, never
quite trusting her unguided instincts, and
finding her as an instructress greatly in.
ferior to Harvard university, though posi-
bly not to Cornell With dauntlesS enter
prise and energy he had built and stocked
charming cottage farm in nook in ths
Sierras, whence he opposed, like the lesser
Englishman that he was, his own tastes to
those of the alien west In the present in
stance he felt it incumbent upon him not
only to assert his principles, but to act upon
them with his usual energy How far he
was impellel by the half contemptunus-
passiveness of his companions it would be
difficult to say.
"What is to prevent the pursuit of them at
once?" he asked suddenly. ave are few
miles from the station, where hors' can be
procured"
"Who's to do it," replied the other lazlly.
"The stage company will lodge the complaint
with the authorities, but it will take two days
to get the county officers out, and it's nobody
elses funeral"
II will 60 for one," said Hale quietly. II
have horse waiting for Inc at the station,
and can start at once"
There was all instant of silence. The stage
coach had left the obscurity of the forest, and
by the stronger light Hale could perceive that
his companion was examining him with two
colorless, lazy eyes. Presently he said, meet
ing Hale's clear glance, but rather as it yield
ing to careless reflection:
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